Darkness tastes like Berries and Copper
by engiebeeMediscoot
Summary: She couldn't understand why she was so different, but there was one person who made her feel so normal. She fell in love only to have him die to a Metal-head attack. This is her story leading to his death. Vin x OOC, Jak x Daxter.
1. Prologue

Darkness tastes like Berries and Copper

**Prologue**

This is my first Jak and Daxter fanfiction. I hope you enjoy it

* * *

The familiar fog cleared from her mind, the sickening taste of Raspberries and Copper sticking to the back of her throat as she forced herself not to throw up Precursors-knew-what.

A bitter smile behind a drawn crimson scarf. This time she had actually expected it, it took way too much for her to lose herself to the tainted darkness, and HIS face was the main trigger. A crackle of purple light as the memory returned, but she forced those thoughts aside and replaced them of a village on the beach, lush with green and the random rustic colored precursor metals and orbs scattered about. The memories of the sound of crystal clean water lapping at the sandy shores calmed her enough to return to the city gate. A thin access card was flipped out of her ragged deep purple tunic then back in as the airlock hisses and the door slid open.

Fresh smells of life in the city assaulted her, the combination of smog, dirty streets, and diluted eco made her gag. She had been too caught up in her memories. Mara had to remember…

Haven City wasn't Sandover Village.

* * *

There you go, the prologue to my Jak and Daxter Fanfic. I hope you enjoyed.  
I know it was short, but it IS a prologue 


	2. The Begining

Darkness tastes like Berries and Copper

Chapter One: The beginning

* * *

For every age there is a trial. The rocks faced such a fire before they were the strength beneath our feet. The plants braved vast winds before their roots could give us life. As a sage of considerable years, I have known only one such great ordeal. Yet the hero it created was a champion of all time. –Samos the Sage

* * *

No one ever paid attention to me except for Keira and Daxter. Samos was always busy listening to the plants, talking to the rocks, and scolding Daxter for something or other. Jak was too busy exploring places he shouldn't have gone. I was the only girl Keira's age in the village, and you know Daxter. He loves to harass anything with two legs and a set of breasts. After a while though, we got along like long lost friends.

But, why did everyone else avoid me? I think everyone avoided me because I was the daughter of a Dark Eco Sage. Dark eco is bad stuff, and my father Gol and my aunt Maia were the only two people I knew who could handle it without bursting into purple and red smoke. Father and Aunt Maia were nice to everyone, removing Dark Eco from areas, keeping the Lurkers in check, carefully keeping the Dark Eco from leaking into the water we drank and twisting innocent animals into corrupt creatures.

Father wanted me to be a Dark Eco Sage as well, but mother didn't think I was old enough to be trained yet, so she sent me to Sandover when I was 7. She left me in the care of Samos who taught me a few things about Green Eco. Mother visited every month for 3 years before she was killed in a freak accident involving the precursor bridge through the Lava Tube collapsed under her. Father was distraught and told everyone to go live in Rock Village until he could repair the bridge.

That's when everything got out of control. The sages closed their portals, the lurkers attacked everything they could, and the dark eco spread.

For four years Sandover remained peaceful until Lurkers attacked the Farmer's Yakows. Jak and Daxter went off to Misty Island while Keira and I picked at that Zoomer she was working on. Well, more like kicking the damn thing. About an hour later we hear Samos busting another vocal cord yelling at Jak and Daxter. Keira went up and started yapping about something having to do with Power Cells and a bit later Jak came down with a now fuzzy Daxter.

Now, I look enough like Keira to be confused with her from the back sometimes, but not the front. Keira wears a tanktop, long pants, and goggles around her neck. I wear a deep purple tunic-jacket thing like Daxter's red one, no sleeves, and tattered black knee-length pants. My hair is long, blue that fades into purple, and goggles like a headband. But Jak and Daxter must have been blind or something 'cause they kept bothering me about the damn zoomer.

"Hey, baby! Whaddya say you and I go crusin' on this A-Grav Zoomer?" Of course, Jak being the mute one, it had to be Daxter.

Sometimes I swear Daxter could be a complete dumbass. "Rule number one: I don't date animals"

"Awww, you don't know what you're missin'!"

Keira thankfully took this time to come back and converse with the boys about the zoomer as Daxter acted like a complete ass and looked at her breasts the whole time. Keira had to tell them twice to go do something in the Precursor Forbidden Temple to open the Blue-eco switch before they finally left. I turned towards her.

"You know, I think they've both played in the blue eco too much, if you know what I mean."

"Er… yeah."

So during the month that Jak and Daxter fought tooth and nail against the lurkers, I went to see father by sailing up the coast. It's a lot faster than the way they went, I was there in a few days. I didn't like what I saw in the silo when I walked in. Lurker patrols and dark eco EVERYWHERE. Oddly enough the Lurkers more or less ignored me and I went to the Silo top looking for father. When I found him, it shocked me. His skin had turned a gray color and his shape had twisted. I didn't like it at all.

"Mara…" He took a deep, rattling breath, "You've returned to me"

"Father, what's happened to you?"

His eyes sparkled manically. "A glorious thing happened to me Mara! The Dark Eco has recognized me as a sage of great experience and has fused with me as the other colors of eco has fused with the other sages! The Dark eco..." another guttural breath, "has opened my eyes to what I need to do to this world!"

"The Dark eco has opened my eyes as well… this world is too unbalanced. We MUST release this dark eco and re-balance this world!"

I turned around to see my Aunt floating there, the Dark eco changing her as well. I was frightened.

"And now that you have returned to me, it's time to train you as well!" Father hurled a blast of Dark Eco at me, the last thing I saw was the maniac gleam in his eyes before the blast of swirling black, purple and red over took me and I fell into the darkness.

* * *

Pain.  
That's all I knew. The chilling pain that ran through my bones, the swell of fear and unexplained hate toward the Dark Eco. A groan. Not mine? It was far too small, far too high-pitched. Somewhere above me I heard HIM muttering, something about the transformation properties of the Dark Eco, about how I wasn't pure enough to harness the eco properly.

A snort.  
That was mine. Fresh pain coursed through my body and I felt like I was growing, my skin suddenly too small. Coldness slipping around me like a cocoon. All I could taste was the sickening taste of Berries and Copper, the taste I later recognized as the taste of darkness.

A growl.  
My mind filled with fog as I felt myself stand up and hurl myself at my father. I don't know what was controlling me, only the sound of maniac laughter turning into bitter tears as the fog cleared and I stood alone with my father's right arm on the ground in front of me.

* * *

It took me about a month to return to Sandover. Halfway back the explosion of my father and aunt crashing into the dark eco echoed through the mountain pass to Rock Village that I had to painfully take on foot. Not being able to get back to the coast, I stole one of Father's artifacts, a glider he called it, and launched myself from the top of the silo and glide towards Snowy Mountain. I had to get away, he was furious. His aura spread even here. I took the gondola down and began to walk. The ground scorched my feet, the heat made me sick, but I kept pressing. I soon left it all behind in the cool mountain pass where there were no lurkers would go, somewhere where it was safe…

By the time I got back to Rock Village, I have half crazy, jumping at small sounds and thinking irrationally. I COULD have taken the Sage's warp gates back to Sandover, but I had been in too much of a hurry. Half starved, I climbed the cliff into the wilds of the Forbidden Jungle. It took me a week to get to the Precursor temple, another two days to get back to the village.

I think Keira found me, I don't know. I woke up in her room feeling better than I had in a long time. My tunic was in ruins and so were my pants. There were fresh clothes laid out for me, which I gratefully pulled on and went outside. I almost got sick on myself.

Samos and Keira were examining a Precursor gate. But not any old one, it was the one from the Dark Eco Silo, the one from back home. Keira saw me, started yapping about the Precursor gate, but I didn't hear her. She understood and told me that my father and aunt were probably dead. I knew that already. She asked if I would want to help rebuild it. I said yes.

We spent weeks working on it, seeing Jak and Daxter only a few times. They were usually slacking off; Samos had to lift the heavy pieces with his powers. Slowly it came together and finally it was done.

I should have never let Keira convince me to get in with them. Never.

* * *

Well, there was the first chapter of Darkness tastes like Berries and Copper. I hope you enjoyed! Also, not all chapters will be taking place from Mara's prospective, just a lot of them until the story gets to the timeline of Jak 3. 


	3. How we meet

Okay, so this story is suddenly going to go in a whole new direction

Okay, so this story is suddenly going to go in a whole new direction. It's not longer Daxter x OC, but a Jak x Daxter fic with the main plot of Vin x OC. I mean, come on. Vin doesn't get any love at all, and most people here are psycho about a Jaxter getting updated now and then.

* * *

Like I said, I never should have gotten on that damn Rift Rider.

We get in; Jak touches something, the portal opens, and BOOM! Some large monster pops out, screams something in a language unknown to everyone except Samos, throws dozens of his spawn at us, and we shoot into the portal.

Only to have the rift rider conveniently explode about three seconds later.

I think Samos yelled something out to someone, but I was already gone, streaking out of the blue energy tunnel and towards the ground at an alarming rate. Expecting to be broken upon the hard rocks I had seen, I was mildly surprised at the icy touch of some liquid I had landed in. And then the pain hit me. Screaming, I passed into a silent, unfeeling blackness.

* * *

I can't say I like this job. I-I mean, I know it's important and without me Haven city wouldn't be safe, but oh, oh precursors it's driving me insane! I mean, I was a lot braver than I am now about three years ago. Just started working for the Baron too; he sought me out for the job. Felt like a real honor too at the time. But after three years of working eighteen hour days, nitpicking and panicking at the little alerts and about having a heart attack at the larger ones! I mean, it's enough to make any man a bit paranoid.

Okay, so maybe a bit is an understatement, I'm a nervous wreck! J-just look at me, I'm just turning 28 and I look like I'm going on 55. I feel like-! No no no, g-get back to the t-task at hand, Vin! The baron will have my hide if-

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

What was, OHPRECURSORS was that a scream? I'm nervous, 'cause you know? Screams aren't good, especially here in the Eco Mines. I don't want to check it out, because it could be an attack from the Hora-quan. Or something worse could have popped out of the Dark eco pools around here. Unfortunately, it's my job to check these things out, 'cause I'm the damn foreman. So I start walkin', pulling out my pistol incase I need to use it. Not like it's goin' to help if something's around here, but it's a solid weight in my hand. Rounding a corner of rock I gasped, dropping my pistol.

It wasn't a Hora-quan.

It was some kid in one of the pools of Dark eco, and precursors, it looked like it had been thrown in there b-because there was dark eco splattered everywhere from the splash. Workers from the mines started leaking in from their various jobs and suddenly the whole area was buzzing in talk about what might have happened. Already some were spraying the dark eco back into the pool with high-powered jets of water. Running my fingers through my hair, I sighed. I wasn't going to have fun trying to e-explain this to the B-baron. And then something hit me, because I realized in the years of learning about Precursion anti-physics, I never heard of something not d-dissolving in dark eco.

And that kid was still there, no body damage at all.

I had to get that kid out, because if the Baron got word of this, the poor kid would be subject to that D-dark W-warrior project he was doing. I wouldn't wish that fate on anybody! I mean, getting pumped full of d-dark eco e-everyday! It almost happened to me too, being able to channel eco and all. But now isn't the time for that!

I almost tripped running over to the pool, my foot catching on my pants leg multiple times. Note to self, tuck pants into boots. O-ok, Now I can see the kid better. Blue hair, goggle-band, purple tunic-coat. It looks like a girl, maybe around 15 or 16. The rest of her is in the pool, and she's about eight feet off the edge. So I need a pole or something. Looking around, I notice a worker, Rossam, standing next to the Hook.

"R-R-ROSSAM! G-get me the Hook!"

Annnnnnnd, he just looks at me. And that just sends me into a panic, you know? I have no idea how long this girl can hold out in the eco. And something snaps in me. I've spent the last THREE YEARS PROTECTING THIS CITY, and if I can't SAVE someone in the mines, WHAT WAS IT ALL WORTH?!

"DAMINT ROSSAM, JUST GET ME THE FUCKING HOOK!"

Everything quiets, and I'm thinking I'm mirroring the look of shock on everyone's faces. They'd never heard me scream at someone in anger, and I'm surprised too. At least it got Rossam to run and get the Hook for me. He's coming back now, head down. I hold out my hand and he plops the Hook in it. This is why I like the Hook; it weighs practically nothing, so even I can lift it.

"Sorry Sir"

Not responding, I turn back to the pool and begin trying to fish her out. And oh precursors, it'snotworking! My goggle-glasses are fogging up and I can't exactly see what I'm doing. I try again and just manage to bump the poor girl in the arm. Dropping to my knees and dropping the hook, I'm scrambling to remove my goggle-glasses c-cause I can't see and I end up ripping them off, hurting my ears in the process. That's better, I'm farsighted, and so I need my glasses to see the computer keys. ANYWAYS!! Picking up the hook again I reach out and finally manage to snag the girl, pulling quickly to get her out. I fell down a few times, efficiently crushing my glasses, but I don't care right now.

Okay, s-she's out, and I'm about to have a heart attack. She was covered in dark eco and now it's almost all gone, 'C-CAUSE SHE'S ABSORBINGIT!! I'm not kidding, she's absorbing the dark eco like its green eco or s-somethin'! The others must've noticed it too, 'cause they're shutting up and not movin'. And the next thing I know, I'm picking the girl up and heading back towards the rift gate going to the Power Station.

"Hey foreman! What are we supposed to do, tell the Baron or somethin'"?

And I stop. I-if the Baron found out about this, we'd be dead and tossed to the Hora-quan, no d-doubt in my mind. 'Cause if he took her, he'd tell us what he was g-gonna do to her, and he doesn't keep many people alive after he tells them about the Dark Warrior program.

"N-no, keep quiet about it. 'C-cause I-if the B-baron finds out, we're all d-dead. I'll tell him when this g-girl gets better." Or I'd lie, say she's my new helper, keep her from the Baron and E-Errol!

"Who's to say she gets better?"

I had no doubt in my mind she would get better, seein' the way she was absorbing that eco. But I didn't say anything, just started walking again.

And then I practically tripped through the rift gate.

* * *

Oh Precursors, I hurt. My limbs feel numb and on fire at the same time, and my mind is just a haze, I can't remember what happened. AND WHAT IS THIS SMELL? It's horrible, like the smell of a dead lurker-shark stuck in the Forbidden Jungle's river next to those sweet-smelling Croca-lilies and some precursor scrap mixed into one! I mean, it's making my eyes water. On that note, I can't open my eyes at all, it's like they're stuck together with Wurmple-bee honey. I'm trying to move my arms to wipe at my eyes, but they feel like they're made of rock

Seriously, what the hell happened? I finally, FINALLY, after about a quarter wick, am able to lift my arm. So, there's nothing on my eyes, why can't I open my eyes? Oh wait, I can. In fact, I think they've been open for a while; it's just dark in here. I struggle to sit up, and I must've triggered something because some eco-lamps flare on and practically blind me. Off to my left there's a startled yelp and a crash. Looking over, I see the most bizarrely dressed guy I've ever seen. And then he looks RIGHT AT ME. What, is something on my face after all? No, there's nothing on my face, so why is he looking at me like that?

The guy says something in the same dialect that that giant monster did back in Sandover, and I just look at him. What the hell is he saying? He goes on and on, and I do catch some stuff, like 'Dark Eco', and 'rift gate', and… that's about it. He seems to notice that I have no idea why he's on about, so he points to himself and says, "Vin".

What? What the hell does 'Vin' mean?

He does it a few more times and I finally get it. His NAME is Vin. That would explain why he was pointing to himself like a loon. Or like Daxter. Or something. Why the looking thing again? STOP LOOKING AT ME. OH! Maybe he wants my name as well. That would be the correct thing to do. So I point to myself as well.

"Mara."

He repeats it, seems happy enough, and starts fidgeting around like he' played in blue eco one too many times, OH! Maybe some Green Eco will calm him down, good thing I have some small eco crystals in my belt pockets. Which reminds me, I think I had some ink and parchment in my pack that I was holding for Keira. Hm… oh well. Anyways, as I was about to get a crystal from my pocket, some red light flashed and this… screen started filling up with writing. Something about an eco wall, an eco grid was messed up, yadda yadda. And you know what? Something clicked, because I could read this, and he could read it.

Whoa, this guy was fidgeting more than normal, running from console to console trying to do something about the alerts. Now the screen is saying something about inserting yellow eco into some... slot to make it normal again, and Vin is running around looking for it, probably. So, doing what any self-respecting person my age should do, I go over, pull on his sleeve, and hold some yellow eco crystals out to him. And… he just looks at me with icy blue colored eyes, stutters why I think was a thank you, and inserts the crystals into some hole. And like blue eco activating some precursor crap, the damn computer shuts up. And it dawns on him too, I can read this crap.

Well, that was a few months ago. I've exchanged my feet-wraps for some brown boots, and gotten some lower-arm guards to protect my wrists from whatever. I've gotten a new white long-sleeved undershirt with a collar, and a new purple tunic. Most importantly though…

I can speak the 'new-speak'.

Vin has been helping me with it, and while it's broken, I can understand most things and can hold a conversation with someone. He's also been teaching me about the eco-grids, the latest history, the government, and how to drive a zoomer. He told me that he wants to train me to become his assistant in the Power station and the mines, but he has to ask the Baron first.

Ug, I hate that guy.

The Baron I mean. When I first saw outside the power station when going to pick up some food, which involved about forty gate passes, a giant map, and about crashing a zoomer twice, I practically died. There was metal EVERYWERE. No green, and the sky was a disgusting shade of yellow-green. And come-on, no one likes the Baron; he hasn't done shit except for beat the dreams and ideals out of the general public. I bet you anything that if you trained half of the population here in Haven, gave them a Blaster, and set them out, they could take the Hora-quan out in a _day_.

I snorted. Hora-quan?

Most people know them as metal heads. I've seen some in the mines. They're ugly, foul smelling, and they're worse than 20 swamp-rats. I'd rather take on the Errol than a metal head. Ah, Errol. Horrible man. Vin tells me he's the second deadliest man in Haven that's on the Baron's side. I've met him once at the power station when I was trying to get the system to stop shrieking at some loose panel on the console. He about had a fit, asking me what I was doing, why I was doing it, where I was from, where was Vin, blah blah blah. I calmly told him that Vin was sleeping and had asked me to take care of whatever came up.

Big mistake.

He didn't like that at ALL.

He pissed and moaned about some sort of protocol and about how he was going to shoot me in the ass, he just went on and on about it. I got tired of him and went back to trying to fix the panel, 'cause you know what? He's like a violent Daxter. Loud, annoying, redheaded, blah blah blah, so sure of himself. Rave on, oh red one.

* * *

You know, sometimes I'm really glad that one of the rulers of Haven thought that adding a room to the Power Station for the foreman to live in was a good idea. I'm sicker than a dog, out of paranoia meds, and we're all out of green eco. So here I am lying' in a bed the Baron got someone to move in here, and ya know? I-it's nice, no loose springs or anything. And with the size of the room, not only is there this bed, but there's a cot, a stove, a few cabinets, sink, a table with some chairs, and a dresser. All that and some room to spare for all that in-infernal paperwork and spare parts. There's even a separate bathroom with a shower.

I'll tell you what, it's a whole lot better than the apartment I had in the slums! There was no room for anything there other than a small bed, couch, table, and one chair. All the surfaces were covered in papers, junk, used tissues, and med bottles, and there wasn't any hot water there either, 'cause the Baron shut it off to drive out the 'Underground'. Which reminds me, I should get Mara to join it, 'cause I swear the shadows are watchin' me whenever I report to Torn about the eco levels, latest with the Baron, whatever he wants to know. I-if the Baron finds out that I've been giving away information to the underground, I'll be worse than dead!

And where the girl has an impressive knowledge of eco, Precursian anti-physics, and history about eco sages and the time around when that brother and sister tried to take over the world, she's be better off helping the Underground. She's a lot younger than I am, more energetic, and she's curious about the world outside these eco-walls. And where the Baron, the KG, and about everyone else knows me, almost no one knows her.

She'd be b-better for the… Huh?

I'm hearing shoutin' from the main room, and I know it's not Mara. Well, unless she can somehow change into a man as well, but I doubt it. It s-sounds like… O-oh Pr-precursors! Why is Errol here?? So I did what anyone would do when Errol shows up. I jumped out of bed and ran into the room to see what he wanted.

* * *

Oh precursors, I finally finished this chapter! Please review…


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